NPR

Pilots Split Over FAA Chief's Claims On Boeing 737 Max Training

The top official at the FAA says airline pilots had enough training to handle Boeing's flight control software linked to two deadly crashes. His statement has divided pilots in the U.S. and overseas.

Investigators are still piecing together what happened in the deadly crashes of a Lion Air flight in October and an Ethiopian Airlines flight last month, but this much is known: In both cases, the Boeing 737 Max planes crashed minutes after takeoff and after pilots appeared to struggle to control their planes.

They did not seem to know how to handle a system, called MCAS, that was forcing their planes into a nosedive.

At a hearing last week, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, chairman of the aviation subcommittee of the Senate commerce committee, pressed for answers from Daniel Elwell, the acting chief of the Federal Aviation Administration.

"There's nothing in the pilot training about the

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